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This one-year course is designed to introduce students to the exegesis of biblical texts through the use of various methods and their application to selected biblical texts. With each method, emphasis will be placed on interpretation from the 
students' particular religious traditions and/or vocational contexts.
DIV 2513 Biblical Criticism  
Fall 1999-Spring 2000 
Mondays or Wednesdays, 3:10-5:00 p.m. 
 Aurel Ionica and Yak-Hwee Tan 
Herbert Marbury and Revelation Velunta 
aurel.i.ionica@vanderbilt.edu 
h.marbury@vanderbilt.edu 
yak-hwee.tan@vanderbilt.edu 
revelation.e.velunta@vanderbilt.edu
The chatroom is restricted to class members only. Both teaching teams will be available online at their designated chat times, "virtual office hours," to respond to questions, make clarrifications, discuss whatever class-stuff there is to discuss.  If you don't like chatting, e-mail is another option.  We've provided a link to VU Webmail for those of you who do not have the Simeon e-mail client. We'll be learning together for one whole year and we'd appreciate your suggestions on how to make our class more interesting and fruitful--hopefully--for everyone.

Read this first:  This is where announcements, changes in schedule, and other important notices will be posted.


Home | Course Schedule | Requirements | Textbooks | Reserve Books August 30/September 1--Introduction
Anderson and Moore, Mark and Method, Introduction
Hayes and Holiday, Biblical Exegesis, Chapter 1
Optional Reading:
Segovia and Tolbert, Reading from This Place, Vol. 1, Introduction
Daniel Patte, Ethics of Interpretation: A Re-evaluation, 1-37

September 13/15--Textual Criticism
Green, Hearing the New Testament, Chapter 7
McCarter, "Textual Criticism..." 11-25 (also 26-61)
New Interpreter's Bible, Vol.1, Chapter 1-3

September 27/29--Historical Criticism
Haynes and McKenzie, To Each Its Own Meaning, Chapters 1 and 3
Shanks, The Rise of Ancient Israel, 86-117
Optional reading
Knight, "Tradition History," in Anchor Bible Dictionary 6:633-638

October 11/13--Source and Redaction Criticism
Haynes and McKenzie, To Teach Its Own Meaning, Chapters 2 and 5
Optional reading
Perrin, What Is Redaction Criticism?

October 25/27--Form Criticism
Green, Hearing the New Testament, Chapter 10
Tucker, Form Criticism of the Old Testament, 1-17 (also 22-83)
Optional reading
McKnight, What is Form Criticism?

November 8/10--Social-Scientific Criticism
Anderson and Moore, Mark and Method, Chapter 6
Yee, Judges and Method, Chapter 3
Optional reading
"Anthropology and the OT," Anchor Bible Dictionary I:258-262
Malina, The New Testament World, Chapter 1.
Esler, The First Christians, Chapter 5

AAR/SBL* meeting in Boston
Thanksgiving Break

November 29/December 1--Narrative Criticism
Anderson and Moore, Mark and Method, Chapter 2
Haynes and McKenzie, To Each Its Own Meaning, Chapter 10
Yee, Judges and Method, Chapter 2
Movie: David Rhoads' Performance of Mark
BS 2587 .R463 1992-Div

Christmas Break

January 24/26--Rhetorical Criticism
Green, Hearing the New Testament, Chapter 13
Haynes and McKenzie, To Each Its Own Meaning, Chapter 8
Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Chapter 6
Optional reading
The Postmodern Bible, Chapter 4

February 7/9--Reader-Response Criticism
Anderson and Moore, Mark and Method, Chapter 3
Barton, Reading the Old Testament, 209-219
Optional reading
Fish, Is There a Text in this Class?
Segovia and Tolbert, Reading from This Place, Vol 2, Introduction

February 21/23--Structural Criticism
Yee, Judges and Method, Chapter 5
Postmodern Bible, Chapter 2
Patte, Structural Exegesis for New Testament Critics

March 13/15--Poststructuralist and Deconstruction
Yee, Judges and Method, Chapter 6
The Postmodern Bible, Chapter 3
Anderson and Moore, Mark and Method, Chapter 4

March 27/29--Feminisms
Anderson and Moore, Mark and Method, Chapter 5
Felder, Stony the Road We Trod, Chapter 3
Haynes and McKenzie, To Each Its Own Meaning, Chapter 13
Schussler-Fiorenza, Searching the Scriptures, Vol 1, Chapter 8

April 10/12--Ideological Criticism
Renita Weems, Semeia 59: 25-34, "The Hebrew Women Are Not Like the Egyptian Women..."
Postmodern Bible, Chapter 7
Yee, Judges and Method, Chapter 7
Movie:  Raul Julia as Archbishop Romero in "Romero"
BX 4705 .R669 R663 1989-Div
Videotape 1374-Central

April 24/26--Social Location/Postcolonial Theory
Segovia and Tolbert, Reading from This Place, Vol 2, Chapters 1 and 19
Sugirtharajah, The Postcolonial Bible, 91-116
Movie: Edward Said on orientalism
DS 12 .S244 1998-Div
Optional reading
Semeia 75:1-14, "Postcolonialism and Biblical Reading: An Introduction"
Sugirtharajah, Voices from the Margin, Introduction, Chapters 5 and 21

Home |  Course Schedule | Requirements | Textbooks | Reserve Books Class Participation: Students are expected 1) to have spent substantial time with the assigned materials and 2) to contribute to the discussion in each class session.  (15%)

Bi-Weekly Papers: Each student will submit a 1-2 page single-spaced paper. It will include 1) the objective and assumptions of the method; 2)the application of the method using the assigned biblical passage; and 3) what implications would interpretations using this method have for your religious community or vocational context. Your two lowest grades will be dropped from your final grade. There will be no paper due for the first and the last class sessions. (55%)

Term Papers: At the end of each term, students may choose one of two options. 1) In consultation with the instructors you will choose two methods and one biblical passage. In this 5-8 page, double-spaced paper, you will apply each of the methods to the passage, comparing and contrasting the different questions the methods ask. The paper should then contain a reflection about the ethical implications of each method, considering such things as the influence of social location, who is helped and who is hurt by the interpretation. Finally, these papers should also include a discussion about how these methods can and/or cannot be used in you future vocation. 2) Students have the option to turn in a 3-page, double-spaced paper along with a twenty-minute sermon (manuscript or tape) using the insights from the paper. The paper should also state why the methods you chose were most helpful for the sermon delivered in your particular vocational context.(30%)

Honor Code: All work done in this class is governed by the rules and regulations of the Vanderbilt University Honor Code

Inclusive Language: In accordance with the University guidelines, students are expected to use inclusive language in their papers and in class discussion.

Home | Course Schedule | Requirements | Textbooks | Reserve Books Mark and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies. Eds. Janice C. Anderson and Stephen Moore. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.
To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Applications. Eds. Stephen R. Haynes and Steven McKenzie. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.
The HarperCollins Study Bible: NRSV 1993. Eds. Wayne Meeks, et al.  (same as in LRF)
Judges and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies. Ed. Gale Yee. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.

Home | Course Schedule | Requirements | Textbooks | Reserve Books
(link provided if online version is available) BS 476 .A32 1995
What is postmodern biblical criticism? A.K.M. Adam. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 1995.
BS 440 .A54 1992
Anchor Bible dictionary. Ed. David Noel Freedman. New York, N.Y. : Doubleday,1992.
BS 2585.2 .M2397 1992
Mark & method : new approaches in biblical studies. Eds. Janice Capel Anderson and Stephen D. Moore. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 1992.
BS 1171.2 .B33 1996
Reading the Old Testament : Method in biblical study. John Barton.Rev. and enlarged.  Louisville, Ky. : Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
BS 476 .P67 1995
The Postmodern Bible:  The Bible and Culture Collective. Eds. George Aichele ... [et al.].  New Haven : Yale University Press, 1995.
BS 511.2 .S84 1991
Stony the Road We Trod : African American biblical interpretation. Ed. Cain Hope Felder.  Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 1991.
PN 81 .F56
Is there a text in this class? : The Authority of Interpretive Communities. Stanley Fish. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1980.
BS 2331 .H43 1995
Hearing the New Testament : Strategies for Interpretation. Ed. Joel B. Green.  Grand Rapids, Mich. : W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. ; Carlisle : Paternoster Press, 1995.
BS 511.2 .T64 1993
To each its own Meaning : An Introduction to biblical criticisms and their application.  Eds. Stephen R. Haynes and Steven L. McKenzie. Louisville, Ky. : Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.
BS 476 .H35 1987
Biblical Exegesis : A Beginner's Handbook. John H. Hayes, Carl R. Holladay. Hayes, John Haralson, 1934- . Atlanta : John Knox Press, 1987.
BS 476 .L48 1993
The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and historical criticism : Jews and Christians in biblical studies. Jon D. Levenson. Levenson, Jon Douglas.  Louisville, Ky. : Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.
BS 1136 .M38 1986
Textual criticism : recovering the text of the Hebrew Bible. P.Kyle McCarter, Jr.Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 1986.
BS2555.2 .M26
What is form criticism? Edgar V. McKnight. Philadelphia, Fortress Press [1969]
BS 491.2 .N484 1994 v.1
The New Interpreter's Bible. Nashville : Abingdon Press, 1994.
BS 2545 .S55 M34 1993
The New Testament world : Insights from Cultural Anthropology. Bruce J. Malina. Louisville, Ky. : Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.  BS 2545 .S55 E85 1994
The first Christians in their social worlds : social-scientific approaches to New Testament interpretation. Philip F. Esler. London ; New York : Routledge, 1994.
BS 625 .N515 1993
Folklore and the Hebrew Bible. Susan Niditch. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 1993.
BS 476 .P328 1995
Ethics of biblical interpretation : a reevaluation. Daniel Patte.Louisville, Ky. : Westminster/John Knox
Press, 1995.
BS 2377.5 .P38 1989
Structural exegesis for New Testament critics. Daniel Patte. Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press, c1990.
BS 2555.2 .P47
What is redaction criticism? Perrin, Norman.   Philadelphia, Fortress Press [1969]
BS 2379 .S43 1993 v. 1 and 2
Searching the scriptures. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza with the assistance of Shelly Matthews.  New York : Crossroad, 1993.
BS 476 .R42 1993 v. 1and 2
Reading from this place. Eds. Fernando F. Segovia and Mary Ann Tolbert. Minneapolis : Fortress,1995.
DS 121.3 .R574 1992
The Rise of ancient Israel : Symposium at the Smithsonian Institution, October 26, 1991 / sponsored by the Resident Associate Program ;Hershel Shanks ... [et al.].  Washington, DC : Biblical Archaeology Society, 1992.
BS 1565.2 .S547 1996
The prostitute and the prophet : Hosea's marriage in literary-theoretical perspective.  Yvonne Sherwood.   Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.
BS 476 .P678 1998
The postcolonial Bible.  Ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah. Sheffield, Eng. : Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.
BS 476 .V65 1995
Voices from the margin : interpreting the Bible in the Third World. Ed. by R.S. Sugirtharajah.  Maryknoll, NY :
Orbis Books, 1995.
BS1171.2 .T74
God and the rhetoric of sexuality. Phyllis Trible. Philadelphia : Fortress Press, c1978.
BS 1184 .T8
Form criticism of the Old Testament. Gene M. Tucker. Philadelphia, Fortress Press [1971]
BS 1305.2 .J83 1995
Judges and method : new approaches in Biblical studies. Ed. Gale A. Yee.  Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 1995.
BS 410 .S45
Semeia
Semeia 59 (1992), Semeia 72 (1995),
Semeia 75 (1996), Semeia 78 (1997)

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*AAR/SBL American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature